Rockford OKs Meijer development, neighbors get fence

The City Council approved Monday several code variances that clear the way for Meijer to build at North Perryville and Rote roads. The store is now expected to open in 2015, said spokesman Jim Ostrowski.

ROCKFORD — The homeowners next door to the site of a future Meijer superstore will get the fence and berm they wanted.

The City Council approved Monday several code variances that clear the way for Meijer to build at North Perryville and Rote roads. The store is now expected to open in 2015, said spokesman Jim Ostrowski.

The council will require developers to build an 8-foot tall fence on top of a 4-foot tall berm to buffer the grocery and shopping center from the properties that are as close as 50 feet from what will be the back of the building.

More than 100 of the homeowners signed a petition asking for the fence and berm.

The site will feature an outdoor garden center, a pharmacy and a gas station. It’s one of two Meijer supercenters planned to open in the area, the other is slated to be built at North Perryville and Illinois 173.

Meijer will anchor Perryville Promenade, a 600,000-square-foot retail center pegged for the site. The plan is to surround the superstore with moderate to high-end retail stores and specialty shops that are new to Rockford.

The city has offered developer First Rockford Group up to $3 million in tax-incentives to fill out the promenade. But the tax breaks are contingent on the developer attracting shops, restaurants or businesses that are unique to the area. The city would set aside a portion of sales tax dollars generated at the site to pay for redeveloping vacant buildings in older, poorer neighborhoods.

If the development fills out, it would create more than 1,000 permanent jobs and generate an estimated $3 million a year in sales tax revenue, according to a Northern Illinois University study.